Report from the Federal Environment Agency: Climate crisis: Water loss is particularly great in Germany

According to a new report from the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), the consequences of the climate crisis in Germany are getting worse. Accordingly, Germany is one of the regions with the highest water loss in the world. The Federal Republic is losing 2.5 cubic kilometers of water every year, said Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) when presenting the report on Tuesday in Berlin. “This is an unimaginably large sum that is putting a strain on our ecosystems and can also impact drinking water supplies, especially in the future.”

UBA President Dirk Messner added that if you extrapolate this over 20 years, it would be the amount of water that Lake Constance contains today. According to his explanations, Germany’s water supply is better compared to southern European countries. But measured against this supply, the loss in Germany is the largest and fastest compared to the rest of the world. According to the UBA, this is partly because Germany has built an infrastructure in which a lot of water flows away – for example through drainage ditches in agriculture and sewage systems in cities and little infiltration area.

“And when the country loses water, the entire ecosystem is affected.” For example, there are devastating consequences for agriculture. “Agriculture and water are intimately linked,” said Messner. “The water loss that we are experiencing here is reflected economically in agriculture and has something to do with nutrition for us as humans.” In 2018 – in a hot summer – winter wheat yields were 15 percent lower than in the normal year.

Damage results in costs

The condition of the forests is also dramatic in view of the drought. “80 percent of the trees in our forests are damaged and we saw 20 times as many spruce trees die in 2020 as in the previous ten years,” said Messner.

And all of this damage results in costs: “80 billion euros since 2018 alone and the subsequent economic costs until the middle of the century are estimated at several 100 billion euros, depending on the severity of the climate crisis,” said Lemke. Climate adaptation and prevention, on the other hand, are cheaper than repairing the damage. It is therefore important that society at large understands that climate adaptation is just as necessary and good as climate protection.

Climate adaptation is about better preparing for or protecting against changes such as droughts or floods. For example, heat protection plans can be developed for hospitals or cities can be built to store more rainwater.

The monitoring report on the “German Adaptation Strategy to Climate Change” reports on climate impacts and adaptation. It is published every four years.